Oliver Potts NARA’s Director of the Federal Register | Official Website
The National Park Service has announced that Western Washington University (WWU) intends to repatriate certain cultural items under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). These items, classified as unassociated funerary objects, are culturally affiliated with Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations.
Repatriation of these cultural items is scheduled to begin on or after June 24, 2024. The contact for this process is Dr. Judith Pine at WWU's Department of Anthropology.
A total of nine cultural items have been identified for repatriation. These include level bags containing non-human mammal, bird, and fish bones from five different units. These were identified as unassociated funerary objects following consultation with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in January 2024.
The site where these items were found, designated 45-SK-35, is located near the Skagit River on an alluvial flat at the base of a hill. It was excavated by Western Washington State College in 1960 under Herbert C. Taylor’s direction. This site has since been recognized as a cemetery and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Ethnographic, geographic, and archeological evidence supports that these funerary objects are Native American. The location corresponds with areas associated with Nookachamps, Kikiallus, and Swinomish tribes. Consultation confirmed that many descendants today belong to the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.
WWU has determined that the nine unassociated funerary objects were intentionally placed with or near human remains as part of death rites or ceremonies according to Native American traditional knowledge. There is a reasonable connection between these objects and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.
Additional requests for repatriation can be submitted by any lineal descendant or culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not mentioned in this notice. Competing requests will be evaluated by WWU to determine the most appropriate requestor before proceeding with repatriation.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3004; implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.
Dated: May 15, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-11449 Filed 5-23-24; 8:45 am]
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